๐️Lonny's War Update- October 666, 2023 - August 2, 2025 ๐️
๐️Day 666 that 50 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivity๐️
Family of Evyatar David publish still from Hamas video, showing hostage pale and emaciated
The family of hostage Evyatar David approves the publication of a still from a Hamas propaganda video released yesterday.
The still shows an emaciated and pale David in captivity, next to an image of him in February, and an image of him before being captured.
‘One million punches to the heart’: Sister of hostage Evyatar David asks public not to share Hamas video
The sister of hostage Evyatar David pleads with the public not to publicize the video Hamas just released showing her brother in captivity.
Ye’ela David says her brother and mother haven’t seen it yet, and she doesn’t want them to have to watch it for the first time while unassumingly scrolling on Instagram.
She says watching the clip caused her to feel “one million punches to the heart.”
Hostage mother after watching Hamas clip of Evyatar David says ‘Holocaust 2025’
Viki Cohen, whose son Nimrod is being held captive in Gaza, writes on X after watching the recently released Hamas video of hostage Evyatar David, “Holocaust 2025.”
David’s family has not yet approved the release of the hard-to-watch video of Evyatar link Both the Hamas video of Evyatar and the video released by Islamic Jihad of Rom Braslasky, the terrorists are juxtaposing both Rom and Evyatar with the starving children of Gaza. They both look like concentration camp survivors. Hamas and Jihad use these videos for the population to apply more pressure on our politicians because everyone knows that these videos have no impact on the politicians. When seeing any of these released videos, it is so hard to comprehend that Netanyahu and his cronies can feel nothing and not be moved at all. We all know that if it was his son who was held by the terrorists, a day would not go by without a deal being made no matter what the cost. The hypocrisy of our leadership is monumental and their lack of sympathy, heart and soul is a national disgrace. They go against every value that is instilled in our children since they learn to talk, the value of life, the value of serving and defending the nation, the value of never leaving anyone behind. These leaders headed by the criminally indicted Netanyahu act against every single one of these values on a daily basis. They do not deserve to be our leaders or even called our leaders and we are deserving of so much better.
Anat Angrest: Ongoing crisis is ‘complete failure’ for PM, my son going through ‘second Holocaust’
Anat Angrest, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, says that the ongoing crisis is a “complete failure” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, playing on his promise to achieve a “complete victory” over Hamas in the ongoing war.
Speaking at Hostages Square, Angrest says, “I am standing here because my son is going through a second Holocaust. I am the image of failure for the prime minister. I avoided using the word Holocaust until now, because I am a daughter of a Holocaust survivor.”
“My father is going through a second Holocaust through his grandson. We see videos of the Holocaust in color. The 2025 Holocaust is continuing and extending thanks to the Israeli government,” she says.
She recounts telling the government’s hostage pointman, Gal Hirsch, that her son was “skin and bones,” and that he replied to her that such comments were “Hamas propaganda.”
In response to the statement, Hirsch writes on X that the media have misrepresented his words, explaining that, in a personal message to a hostage relative last night, he said the videos released by terror groups of hostages “are part of Hamas’s starvation campaign,” and not that the captives’ suffering itself was propaganda. link Gal Hirsch, who is uniformly unqualified for his position as the person appointed by Netanyahu to be the point person for Hostages and Missing. He was put in the position for political reasons only and he proves it time and time again. His statement on X is right out of the mouth of his boss who said last year that the hostages are suffering but not dying, which was a complete lie.
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
“I’ve never met them,But I miss them. I’ve never met them,but I think of them every second. I’ve never met them,but they are my family. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”
We’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!ืืื ื ืฆืืื ืขื ืฉืื ืืืืืคืื ืืืืช
A must read article to understand what happened with Gaza after before and after the Israeli disengagement and how it all brought us to October 7
"The Gaza Disengagement – a different perspective on a good idea that went bad - Dr. Gershon Baskin - August 1, 2025" in the War and Politics section below
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*7:30pm- Jerusalem areas, Gush Dan, West Bank- ballistic missile from Yemen- successfully intercepted- no reports of damage or injuries
IDF intercepts Houthi missile, the 67th launched since March ceasefire collapse
A ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen at Israel a short while ago was intercepted by air defenses, the military says.
There are no immediate reports of impacts or injuries. Sirens had sounded in central Israel and the Jerusalem area.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 67 ballistic missiles and at least 17 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short
Our children are ‘skin and bones’: hundreds protest for hostages in Tel AvivHundreds of people take part in a protest for the hostages in Tel Aviv, where family members set up a barbed wire camp to draw attention to the plight of the captives after terror groups released videos in recent days showing the dire condition of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.
“In recent days, we saw the difficult videos of Rom and Evyatar from captivity,” Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, says at the rally. “Our children are undergoing a Holocaust.”
“Jews are becoming skin and bones because of political survival,” she says, referring to accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza to appease his far-right coalition partners and stay in power.
“If we don’t free everyone now, they will not survive for much longer,” Zangauker says.
Deal will take ‘long time’ to reach if Israel shifts course to pursue comprehensive Gaza plan — official
If Israel and the US abandon their efforts to reach the phased hostages deal that they’ve been negotiating for months with Hamas, it will take “a long time,” to reach an understanding on a comprehensive deal to release all of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, a senior Israeli official familiar with the talks tells The Times of Israel.
Hostage talks have been at an impasse since last week when Israel and the US pulled their negotiators from Doha due to frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest proposal for a partial hostage deal.
Arab mediators have told The Times of Israel that while Hamas’s response slowed progress that had been made, the gaps are still bridgeable.
However, the deal on the table would only see the release of 28 of the 50 hostages during the two-month truce under discussion. The remainder would only be released if Israel and Hamas reach an agreement during those 60 days on terms for a permanent ceasefire. link Remember that when it states a 'senior Israeli official', it means that it is coming out of the Prime Minister's Office and has been approved by Netanyahu. There has been considerable talk over the past couple of days of the need to abandon the interim phased approach for a hostage deal. This type of deal is the invention of Netanyahu because it served him politically to keep his coalition intact. With a phased deal, he could breach the deal for whatever reason and at whatever time he wanted and go back to fighting, which he has done with each deal until now. With his coalition in a very precarious situation, he views the phased approach even more important to his political survival even it it means that the remaining living hostages will undergo more and longer torture and the chances of they dying in captivity or being executing are greater with each passing day. The pressure to go straight to a single deal is starting to come from Trump's people and Netanyahu is pushing back. This statement is the latest of the pushbacks claiming that it will take a longer time and not serve the hostages because of it. Well, that claim is absolute garbage. My brother, Dr. Gershon Baskin put together a 3 week single stage deal that would end the war and return all hostages within the 3 week time period. Hamas was fully amenable to the proposal but Israel refused to even discuss it. That same deal is fully workable today and all details can be worked out in a matter of days. Of course, it can only be done if the desire is there. Clearly, Netanyahu doesn't have that desire and therefore is making sure that these BS statements are made where the main audience is one person, Trump!
IDF chief: We’ll know in coming days whether partial deal possible. If not, we’ll fight on
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells troops during a visit to the Gaza Strip, “I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we will be able to reach a partial deal to release our hostages.”
“If not, the fighting will continue unabated,” Zamir says.
Hostage talks have been at an impasse since last week when Israel and the US pulled their negotiators from Doha due to frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest proposal for a partial hostage deal.
Yesterday, a senior Israeli official, briefing reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Jerusalem and Washington have shifted course to seeking a comprehensive deal to free the remaining hostages and permanently end the war.
Witkoff to hostages’ families: ‘The plan is not to expand the war, but to end it’
US special envoy Steve Witkoff tells families of hostages in Tel Aviv that a majority of Israelis and Gazans want hostages held by Hamas to be returned, as quoted by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a Hebrew statement.
“A majority of Israelis want the hostages at home, and a majority of Gaza’s public wants the return of hostages because they want the rehabilitation of the Strip,” he tells families at Hostages Square.
“There is no victory without bringing everyone home; all of you have become part of my family,” he adds.
“The plan is not to expand the war, but to end it,” he says, adding that talks should now focus on ending the war and bringing home all the hostages, instead of a partial deal.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the meeting went on for nearly three hours. link Witkoff has a heart and a soul and truly cares about the hostages and their families, as opposed to every single leader of this corrupt and failed Israeli government. He has made it his personal mission to bring home all the hostages. It is so absurd that he, as an American official meets with the hostage families all the time, while our prime minister and the rest of his cabinet refuse to meet with them.
It is very good that Witkoff is saying that a single deal to bring home all the hostages must be the focus of the day, but unless he has the mandate from Trump to make it so and force Netanyahu to do this, it is only talk. We all hope that Witkoff will have the backing to turn this hope into a reality. The coming days will be very telling.
Witkoff said to tell families nothing new in hostage talks, situation ‘complicated’- Witkoff holds tense meeting with hostages' families: 'He's just reciting slogans'
U.S. envoy tells relatives that efforts were ongoing to reach a comprehensive deal for the release of all 50 remaining hostages as well as an end to the war in Gaza
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met Saturday with families of Israeli hostages at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, but after more than two hours of conversation, relatives left discouraged and skeptical. The meeting followed the release of deeply distressing videos showing Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David in severely deteriorated condition after 666 days in Hamas captivity.“Most Israelis want the hostages home,” Witkoff told the group. “And most Gazans want the hostages home too—they want Gaza rebuilt.” He added that efforts were ongoing to reach a deal for the release of all 50 remaining hostages and a resolution to the war. But for many of those present, the remarks offered little comfort.“I didn’t expect anything from this meeting,” said one family member. “He’s repeating slogans—‘Hamas doesn’t want a deal.’ I asked him: It’s been eight months since Trump’s statement, three months since your last visit, and the situation has only gotten worse. He said they’re committed and doing everything they can. Just slogans. With 50 people in the room, you can’t have a real dialogue.” Another participant said the meeting served primarily as a chance for families to “let off steam.” Witkoff spoke about the administration’s efforts, the relative added, “but there’s no real update.” The meeting took place in a highly charged atmosphere at Hostage Square, where families had earlier erected barbed-wire installations to symbolize the suffering of those still held in Gaza. The release of the latest hostage videos, approved for publication only with family consent, has heightened tensions across Israel. “They broke Rom—he fought for this nation,” said Adam Braslavski, Rom’s cousin. “Others live because of him. Watching the video once was enough—my nightmares worsened and death felt preferable.” Einav Zanguaker, mother of hostage Matan Zanguaker, compared their ongoing ordeal to a present-day Holocaust. “This could have ended long ago if not for political failures. Our children are wasting away while politics prevail.” Michal Iluz, father of Guy Iluz—who was killed and whose body remains in Gaza—voiced his despair. “I’ve lost my trust in the state. Some families are too broken even to attend.” Anat Angerest, mother of hostage Matan Angerest, said Israel’s military coordinator for hostages, Gal Hirsch, dismissed documented signs of her son’s declining condition as “Hamas propaganda,” and cut off communication after she criticized authorities. On Thursday, Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a video of Braslavski, reportedly filmed shortly before contact was lost with him and others. Rom’s mother, Tami Braslavski, demanded an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff, criticizing officials for failing to reach out after the footage emerged. Meanwhile, despite reports that a Hamas delegation has moved from Doha to Turkey, Israel has left the door open for renewed talks if Hamas alters its position. But no decision is expected this week. According to CNN, Netanyahu has postponed any major military moves in Gaza pending a Hamas response to ongoing negotiation efforts. link
With ‘a broken heart,’ Israeli literary giant David Grossman labels Gaza war a ‘genocide’
Award-winning Israeli author David Grossman calls his country’s campaign in Gaza “genocide” and says he is using the term with a “broken heart.”
This came days after a major Israeli rights group also used the same term, amid growing global alarm over starvation in the besieged territory.
“For many years, I refused to use that term: ‘genocide,'” the prominent writer and peace activist tells Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Friday.
“But now, after the images I have seen and after talking to people who were there, I can’t help using it.”
Grossman tells the paper he is using the word “with immense pain and with a broken heart.”
“This word is an avalanche: Once you say it, it just gets bigger, like an avalanche. And it adds even more destruction and suffering,” he says.
Grossman’s works, which have been translated into dozens of languages, have won many international prizes.
He also won Israel’s top literary prize in 2018, the Israel Prize for Literature, for his work spanning more than three decades.
He says it was “devastating” to “put the words ‘Israel’ and ‘famine’ together” because of the Holocaust and our “supposed sensitivity to the suffering of humanity.”
The celebrated author has long been a critic of the Israeli government. link David Grossman can be considered the soul of the country, often expressing in amazingly clear and deeply thought out commentary what the country is facing and what needs to be done. He has done it again, exposing the nasty truth that so many Israelis are blind and deaf to, on purpose. The situation in Gaza has been a total blind spot on Israeli news. The devastation and the real humanitarian crisis that is seen on screens around the world are not seen in Israel. This is an unforgivable situation perpetrated by the Israeli media. I can only assume the reasons that we have basically been blocked from seeing the real story. The first is that a large proportion of Israelis wanted overpowering vengeance brought down on Gaza and all Gazans after October 7. There are so many who truly believe that no one in Gaza is an innocent because of all that we saw on our screens, published directly by Hamas of the hoards of Gazans who infiltrated into Israel following Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. Many of them committed acts of terror as well, killing, raping, destroying, stealing bodies and looting. And the Gazans who didn't infiltrate were seen attacking the hostages being forcibly brought into Gaza, in many circumstances almost being lynched by the mobs. Vengeance was a very desired approach and it has continued throughout the war with many. They didn't want to know about the destruction and devastation in Gaza but were pleased to hear that it was happening. The blocking by the media enabled Israelis to continue to be blind to the real situation. It could also have been fear of losing viewership if there was sympathetic coverage of Gaza at the same time that our hostages are still in captivity and our soldiers are being killed. And that last possibility is the fear of losing access to Gaza itself if the news outlet portrayed a real picture of what we are doing in Gaza. We must remember that no foreign press is allowed in Gaza and the Israeli press is only allowed when fully accompanied by the army who also determine where they are going to go and what they will cover. It is still inexcusable that it happened and is still happening.
The change that is happening very slowly is due to the worsening of the humanitarian situation including deaths by starvation of children in Gaza and the international outrage. Israelis are beginning to protest and stand up and say 'not in my name'. It may be late but still very important and hopefully will help in making changes and ending the war.UN says 1,373 Gazan aid seekers killed since late May, mostly by IDF
The UN human rights office says that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for aid in the shortage-stricken Gaza Strip since late May, most of them by the Israeli military.
“In total, since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of (US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys,” the UN agency’s office for the Palestinian territories says in a statement.
“Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,” it adds.
The IDF has repeatedly said that it has fired warning shots at crowds approaching troops, but that claims of casualties are inflated, without providing its own figures.
IDF says it facilitated largest airdrop yet of humanitarian aid from 6 different countries
In the largest airdrop operation since efforts to increase the supply of aid to Gaza began, 126 packages of humanitarian supplies were dropped in the Strip by aircraft from six countries, the Israeli military says.
Aircraft from Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and — for the first time in over a year — Spain, Germany, and France airdropped food in both northern and southern Gaza.
The IDF says the airdrops were carried out “in accordance with the directives from the political echelon and as part of the cooperation between Israel, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Spain, France, and Germany.”
The airdrops are part of a “series of actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip,” the military says.
“The IDF will continue to work in order to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, along with the international community, while refuting the false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza,” it adds. Video
- Israel's government knew hunger was coming to Gaza; in its policies, it handed Hamas the advantage
Opinion: Israel sleepwalked into both the October 7 disaster and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza, ignoring repeated warnings from the Biden and Trump administrations
On March 2, Israel made a pivotal and controversial decision: to suspend all humanitarian aid and food shipments into the Gaza Strip. The move, by the country’s security cabinet, has since drawn sharp criticism from within Israel’s own defense establishment and abroad. Interviews with decision-makers, current and former defense officials, and military officers reveal growing alarm over the consequences of that policy.Though conditions in Gaza were dire even before March, humanitarian aid distribution had been functioning—and in some cases improving, following the temporary ceasefire deal agreed in January.Substantial food and aid had been entering the enclave. But the Israeli government’s shift in strategy that month marked a dramatic turn: it ended the cease-fire, launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots to pressure Hamas into a hostage deal, and assumed direct control over the flow of aid into Gaza.By early April, internal metrics from the Israeli defense establishment began signaling rising levels of distress inside Gaza, echoing warnings from international aid organizations. Still, those red flags were often dismissed. One senior Israeli minister described the attitude toward Maj. Gen. Rassan Alian, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), as condescending: “They said he was just waving red flags, while simultaneously insisting there was no famine,” the minister said. “There was always a sense that things were on the edge,” one senior official said. “They mocked Rassan Alian, but we knew the situation was severe.” According to multiple sources, the government was aware of the risk of a mass hunger crisis and acted not for strategic reasons but out of fear of political fallout, especially from far-right ministers like Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. By late June and early July, the European Union (EU) had issued direct warnings to Israel, threatening to suspend its Association Agreement over the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, a threat that has largely gone unnoticed in Israeli public discourse. Inside Israel, the prevailing belief remains that a hostage deal will soon bring a new ceasefire, and with it, renewed aid flow. A future commission of inquiry may one day examine how Israel sleepwalked into both the October 7 disaster and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza, some observers said. Despite repeated warnings from the Biden administration and even early concerns voiced by Trump officials in May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to make decisive choices. Paralyzed by political pressure from the far right, he stalled, reversed course, and missed opportunities. Netanyahu led the way to the historic achievement of the despicable Hamas terror group that was rewarded by the suffering of its people as long as it harmed Israel, Israelis and the hostages held in its tunnels. But more urgent still is the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza and every child there is innocent. link IDF says Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion has been defeated
After three Hamas operatives surrendered to troops of the Givati Brigade in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun earlier today, the IDF says Hamas’s battalion in the town has been defeated.
The operatives had emerged from a tunnel and surrendered to the forces in the area. The IDF says the operatives told the troops that they had sought to flee the area, after another gunman with them was killed during a previous exchange of fire with the military.
The Hamas gunmen also led the forces to a weapons depot near the tunnel from which they emerged, where the IDF says the troops found numerous weapons and equipment. Inside the tunnel, the troops also found food, water, and other supplies to be able to reside underground for long periods, the military says.
The IDF says the three operatives were taken for further interrogation, the weapons were seized, and combat engineers are mapping out the tunnel ahead of its demolition.
“The Beit Hanoun Battalion, which posed a threat to Nir Am and Sderot, has surrendered and been defeated by Givati Brigade troops,” the IDF says.
Last week, during a tour of Beit Hanoun, the commander of the Givati Brigade told reporters that there were just four or five remaining gunmen in the area.
The IDF has operated in Beit Hanoun five times since the beginning of the war, slowly degrading Hamas’s battalion there, which, before October 7, 2023, consisted of over 1,000 operatives.
The majority of the Hamas gunmen in the Beit Hanoun Battalion were either killed during the fighting or fled, like the battalion commander, Hussein Fayyad.
Gaza and the South
EU pans Israel for withholding body of Palestinian activist killed by settler, preventing ‘dignified burial’
The European Union pans Israeli authorities for refusing to release the body of Palestinian activist Awdeh Hathaleen to a “dignified burial” after he was killed on Monday by an Israeli settler sanctioned by the EU over his violent extremism.
Israeli authorities have been demanding that Hathaleen’s family commit to a series of conditions, including not erecting a mourning tent in the area of their home, capping the funeral at 15 people and holding the funeral at night, a lawyer in touch with the family told The Times of Israel.
The family has thus far refused those conditions.
A delegation of EU diplomats visited Hathaleen’s village of Umm al-Khair on Thursday to pay their condolences to his family.
“Since January 2023, over 2,800 Palestinians have been displaced due to settler violence and related coercive practices,” the EU’s mission to the Palestinians posts on X. “In 2025 alone, settlers have reportedly killed 4 Palestinians, including Hathaleen, and injured more than 350.”
The EU says, “Israel must take concrete steps to prevent settler violence against Palestinians and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who visited the West Bank earlier today, says in a statement afterward that Berlin “is committed to further sanctioning violent settlers. The illegal settlements are a major obstacle to the two-state solution. The policy of settlement construction is clearly contrary to international law.”
Wadephul also says Germany will provide 5 million Euros ($5.78 million) for aid to Gaza through the World Food Programme.
The EU is continuing to provide aid through UN organizations, while calling out the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been the Trump administration’s preference.
“Due to insufficient Israeli security commitments, the UN can currently not provide aid that is desperately needed. This must change,” Wadephul says.
IDF chief pleads with ministers to present strategy for how they want army to proceed
IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir pleaded with cabinet ministers during a meeting this week to present a strategy for how they want the army to proceed amid the standstill in hostage talks, Channel 12 reports, highlighting the government’s lack of clear game-plan, as Jerusalem’s diplomatic standing plummets due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israel has reportedly considered annexing parts of Gaza in an attempt to pressure Hamas to release hostages, but no decision has been made yet.
Strategy was discussed during US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meetings in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Hostage talks have been at an impasse since last week when Israel and the US pulled their negotiators from Doha due to frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest proposal for a partial hostage deal. Link There has never been any strategic plan for this horrible war and it has been even more so for the past 8 months when the war took a sharp turn to be strictly the War of Netanyahu's Political Survival. And no one knows this better than the past and present IDF Chiefs of Staff. On a tactical level, they have acted in accordance to certain directives of the political echelon, in particular when Gadi Eisenkott and Benny Gantz were ministers in the war cabinet. That wasn't exactly a bed of roses due to the fact that Netanyahu always had the last word and overrode the cabinet constantly especially in regards to the hostages. When they left the government and cabinet because they had less and less say in the decisions, it became a free for all and no one was really calling any shots that the IDF Chief could call a strategic plan. So, there is no surprise that he is literally begging the government for a strategy because the war in Gaza is now fully a guerilla war and that is only bad news for our soldiers. Netanyahu doesn't want to end the war until it suits his political needs and that is his only strategy. In the meantime, more soldiers are being killed and maimed, and the hostages remain in the horrible hellish captivity because Netanyahu has NO plan.
The Gaza Disengagement – a different perspective on a good idea that went bad - Dr. Gershon Baskin - August 1, 2025
Israel’s decision to leave Gaza forever was a good idea. 8000 settlers living in 21 Israeli settlements among more than 2 million Palestinians after 30 years of settlement building was simply not sustainable. Thousands of Israeli soldiers were required to protect the settlers, something that could not be done. But moreover, the disengagement of Israel from Gaza could have been a diplomatic move enabling the establishment of a Palestinian state first in Gaza that would have empowered the moderate forces in Palestine that opposed the armed second intifada and believed in the two states solution. The refusal of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to engage in a bi-lateral process of disengagement with the Palestinian leadership led to empowering Hamas and the advocates of violence and what they call “resistance” as the only tool that would “free Palestine”. Not only was a great opportunity lost to advance peace, the unilateral disengagement put the most extreme elements of Palestinian society into power. The saddest part of this whole story is that what unfolded in Gaza was part of a political design, a strategy to ensure that the Palestinians would fail to govern Gaza. This strategy was adopted, continued and enhanced by Netanyahu whose goal has been to prevent the emergence of a Palestinian state. All of this is what led to October 7.
On December 18, 2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent shock waves across Israel, the region and the world when he announced that Israel would be unilaterally disengaging from the Gaza Strip. Months before, on April 23, 2002, Sharon declared in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset that the status of Netzerim and Kfar Darom (two small settlements in Gaza) was equal to the that of Negba (A kibbutz in the Negev) and Tel Aviv. The disengagement announcement was perhaps the biggest 180-degree reversal of an Israeli policy ever. Sharon was the spiritual and actual father of the Gaza settlements as he was also one of the biggest advocates of the settlements in the West Bank. Many people, until this day do not understand what caused this reversal of Sharon’s thinking on the future of Gaza.
The Back Story of the Disengagement
The back story that I am telling here was told to me by Avigdor Yitzhaki (From 2001 – 2004 Yitzhaki was the Director-General of the Prime Minister Sharon’s office). I became quite friendly with Yitzhaki who agreed to attend many of the meetings of the Israeli Palestinian Economic Working Group that we ran in IPCRI – Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information. Here is what he told me: On October 10, 2003 the Geneva Initiative was officially launched. This initiative brought together the most senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators who were involved in negotiating since the beginning of the Oslo process. It was headed by Yossi Beilin on the Israeli side and Yasser Abed Rabbo on the Palestinian side. It included senior people like Nabeel Shaath and Amnon Lipkin Shahak. The Accord was prepared in secret for over 2 years before the 50-page document was officially launched on December 1, 2003, at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland (which I also attended). During the height of the second intifada with no hopes for even a ceasefire, this initiative which presented a detailed comprehensive agreement for peace based on the two-states solution began to get a lot of international attentions. Many countries, even those friendly to Israel were beginning to consider adopting it and supporting it publicly. Even the US State Department announced that they were studying the document and considering to support it. This announcement shook Ariel Sharon to the bones. The adoption of the Geneva Initiative by the United States would mean US support for the creation of a Palestinian state that would include almost all of the West Bank and Gaza and a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. This was far beyond the possibility of Sharon to even consider this idea.
Then the idea of disengagement of Gaza was born. According to what Yitzhaki told me, Sharon was convinced that after Israel left Gaza completely, the Palestinians would fail to govern Gaza and their failure would remove the Geneva Initiative from the agenda and there would be no pressure on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Sharon considered it a small price to pay to save Israel from the possibility of a Palestinian state headed by his arch enemy, Yasser Arafat. Sharon’s bet on the Gaza disengagement paid off immediately. The international attention granted to Geneva was replaced by a global enlistment to support the Gaza disengagement.
Global Support for the Disengagement: The Wolfensohn Mission
Former World Bank president (and Australian Jew) James D. Wolfensohn was appointed in May 2004 as the special coordinator of the Quartet (US, UN, EU, and Russia) for the Disengagement Plan. He immediately made five visits to the region: May 2-5; June 6-9 and 17-22; July 8-16; and July 29 - August 9 before locating to Jerusalem to coordinate the disengagement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.Wolfensohn met regularly in Israel with the prime minister, foreign minister, vice premier, defense minister, justice minister, and head of the National Security Council. On the Palestinian side, he met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Muhammad Dahlan, Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, and other economic ministers. A number of trilateral meetings were also held with Dahlan and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Wolfensohn also met with representatives of international organizations including UNWRA and USAID, as well as foreign diplomats and Israeli and Palestinian businessmen. Among the topics discussed were border crossings, “commercial corridors”, movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, travel within the West Bank, a Gaza airport and seaport, and the future of the vacated housing and hothouses.
The Status of the Wolfensohn Mission on the Eve of Disengagement
These are the issues that were discussed by Wolfensohn and other Quartet officials – some agreements were reached, but never really honored and implemented in full.
Border crossings and commercial corridor - Israeli and Palestinian technical teams discussed in concrete terms the upgrading the Karni and Erez crossings, in addition to the establishment of a separate crossing for agricultural produce. (This was never implemented)
Movement between Gaza and the West Bank - The Israeli cabinet approved the interim solution of accompanied convoys, comprising 25 trucks. For the long term Israel is proposing a rail link between Erez (Gaza) and Tarkumiya (West Bank). (This was never implemented)
Travel within the West Bank- Wolfensohn urged freedom of movement among Palestinian localities as a spur to economic growth. In this context, the removal of four settlements in northern Samaria during disengagement would be accompanied by the removal of roadblocks and an immediate improvement in mobility. (The settlements were vacated but held onto by the Israeli army and never transferred to the Palestinians)
Air and sea ports - There was agreement in principle on the building of a seaport (its construction is to utilize the rubble from the demolition of settlers’ homes in the Gaze Strip). (This was never implemented)
No agreement was reached yet on the reopening of the Gaza airport.
Demolition of Israeli homes in Gaza - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced in Jerusalem on June 19, 2005 that about 1,200 Jewish homes would be destroyed at the agreement of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. “The view is that there are better land uses for the Palestinians to better address their housing needs," said Rice, adding that the parties would "work towards a plan for destruction and clean-up." (The Palestinian Authority never agreed to the demolition of settlers’ homes. The Palestinian Authority wanted the homes and settlement infrastructure to remain and for the homes to be raffled off to people living in refugee camps in exchange for a formal undertaking of giving up the right of return and compensation. This of course never happened).The Gush Katif Greenhouses - Representatives of Gush Katif farmers signed a $14 million deal to sell some 75 percent of their greenhouses to a private international fund, the Economic Cooperation Foundation (Yossi Beilin’s initiative), which would transfer the structures to the Palestinian Authority. The ECF coordinated private donations to fund the greenhouse transfer, which assured that some 4,000 Palestinian workers will retain their jobs and 4000 square meters of greenhouses that remained after the destruction of 1000 square meters were destroyed by settlers and by Palestinian looters before the Palestinian security forces intervened and protected the majority of the greenhouses. (These were transferred to a professional Palestinian management company and were worked by the same 4000 Palestinian laborers who worked for the settlers. The produce grown – kosher vegetables for the ultra-Orthodox sector in Israel never made it to market, because after the disengagement, Israel closed the border. The Palestinian Authority company managing the greenhouses went bankrupt after two seasons of growing).
The Philadelphi Corridor The cabinet approved the withdrawal from the Israeli controlled Philadelphi Corridor (located between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai) allowing contiguity between the Palestinians and Egypt. An agreement on Movement and Access and the Agreement for the Rafah crossing were signed and were implemented for only a short period of time. In June 2007 when Hamas took over Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, the border was closed and the international personal went back home. From that point on the tunnel industry with about 1000 tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor operated and prospered turning the Hamas government and military into a multi-billion-dollar economic concern).
Gaza- Singapore
The plans for the post-disengagement economic development of Gaza never got of the ground. The World Bank’s work on reviving the Gazan economy was shelved, the US-brokered Agreement on Movement and Access went largely unimplemented, the greenhouse enterprises, originally heralded as a symbol of the future prosperity of Gaza, ended up a dismal failure due to the frequent border closures. The proposed Erez industrial estate was first looted by Palestinians, and then many of the buildings were destroyed by an Israeli military incursion in response to the firing of Qassem missiles in June 2005.
In April 2006, frustrated by events, James Wolfensohn closed down his office and left. Wolfensohn issued a final report on his work. This report offered a stark assessment and urgent warnings about the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian Territories and the weakening Palestinian Authority. Wolfensohn urged the international community to intervene immediately to prevent the collapse of basic services and institutional functioning in the Palestinian territories. He emphasized that humanitarian aid alone is insufficient and that a strategic policy framework is essential to preserve the Quartet’s credibility and to sustain the two-state solution.
The report projected an alarming 27% decline in Palestinian GDP within the year if trade restrictions, halted tax transfers, and declining donor aid continued. Without intervention, by 2008, poverty could affect 74% of Palestinians and unemployment could reach 47%. Wolfensohn stressed that the PA's ability to deliver education and health services was under threat—these could collapse without sustained revenue, jeopardizing public welfare and governance.
Something that has been widely ignored as well is the failure of the Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza to prevent the Hamas coup d'รฉtat in June 2007. One of the primary factors that led to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority forces is that for more than a year before the collapse, the Israeli government froze all of the tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority as stipulated in the Paris Protocol (on the economic relations between Israel and the PA). (The current Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvir government is doing the same today and currently owes the Palestinian Authority more than one billion shekels). These VAT and Customs revenues accounted for about half of the Palestinian budget. After the January 2006 Palestinian elections that Hamas won, Israel froze those payments to the PA and the PA could not pay the salaries of its employees – the majority of them being in the security services of the PA. For many months PA security personnel were without wages and when Hamas forces began threatening them, many of them refused to risk their lives on behalf of their government that failed to be responsible for their welfare. When Hamas demanded to take full control over Gaza, the PA security forces completely collapsed and many of them ran to the Erez crossing to escape into Israel and to Ramallah.
Why did the disengagement fail?
The political directive of Sharon that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza would be a unilateral operation and that Israel would not engage in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority clearly hampered the efforts of the policy planners to coordinate policy. Israel determined the agenda and set the limits on the scope of the discussions. Formally, Ariel Sharon’s reason for the adoption of an unilateralist approach was his lack of faith in the Palestinian leadership. Sharon had little faith that negotiations with the Palestinian could serve Israel’s interests, Israel could better achieve it strategic objectives unilaterally than through the process of bilateral negotiations. This unilateral imperative meant that contacts with Palestinians were limited to the level of low-ranking officials and technical experts. Israel was wary that any semblance negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, however low-level, would create a momentum it could not control, thereby limiting its freedom of action. As a consequence the Israeli and Palestinian officials involved in the discussions over future border arrangements lacked the political authority or the mandate to address the central security issues involved.
When the disengagement was announced by Sharon, Arafat directed Mohammed Dahlan to form committees for coordinating the disengagement with Israel. In parallel, we in IPCRI created our own joint Israeli-Palestinian coordinating mechanism launching nine joint working groups of Israeli and Palestinian professionals. These included work on: Borders, Economics and Security arrangements, internal security, economic development of Gaza, Water, and Environment. In July 2004, we conducted a weekend long meeting in a hotel in Nahariya, with some 250 Israeli and Palestinian professionals. The joint committees continued to work throughout the year. The working groups' concrete recommendations for the coordination of the disengagement were submitted to officials on both sides including the Office of the Prime Minister, and we held a meeting with the national Security Advisor who was responsible for much of the planning of the disengagement. It was at that meeting that we learned that Sharon would not coordinate anything with the Palestinian Authority. We also learned about the Israeli decision to demolish all of the settlement homes in Gaza rather than turning them over to the Palestinian Authority. We voiced our strong objection to this and even noted that the homes could have been used as a tool to reduce the Palestine demands on the right of return. Even after the death of Yasser Arafat and the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas as the President of the Palestinian Authority. Sharon labeled Abbas as “a chick with no feathers – a non-partner”. He had no intention whatsoever to legitimize the Palestinian leaderships’ desire for peace with Israel based on two states.
Even after the disengagement was completed, through Avigdor Yitzhaki I tried to speak with Sharon. By this time Sharon had left the Likud and created the Kadima Party in November 2005. Yitzhaki told me that if I want to speak with Sharon about Gaza and the West Bank, I should become a member of the Kadima party. I did. Nonetheless, Sharon would not listen to anything that I said.
The most consequential aspect of Israel’s unilateralism was its impact of the Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas who had succeeded Yasser Arafat as chairman of PLO. Proponents of Israel’s disengagement plan heralded Sharon’s move as an important confidence building measure for Israeli-Palestinian relations. But the Palestinians were not considered by Sharon as stakeholders neither in the process nor in its outcome. The Palestinian leadership was very suspicious of Sharon's motives, seeing the true intention of disengagement plan was to ensure Israel’s hold on the West Bank. The Palestinian leadership was neutralized as Israel planned its withdrawal from Gaza. At the same time Israel accelerated the construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Their concerns and fears over disengagement were largely ignored and were interpreted as further Palestinian intransigence.
Later, Yitzhaki admitted to me that Sharon was sure that the Palestinian Authority would fail to manage Gaza and the pressure on Israel regarding the West Bank would evaporate. After Hamas won the Palestinian Elections in January 2006, all pressure was removed from Israel. Sharon not only knew that the Palestinian Authority would be unable to govern, he helped to ensure that would be the reality of Gaza. Hamas won the elections because Hamas won the narrative of what forced Israel out of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority that wanted to negotiate with Israel and coordinate the disengagement with Israel was delegitimized by Sharon’s refusal to engage with them. Instead of empowering the moderates with a major political achievement, Gaza was handed to Hamas on a silver platter.
After the disengagement – Netanyahu’s Grand Strategy Succeeded and Led Us Directly to October 7
I won’t go into the period of the Olmert governments and his attempt to reach a peace agreement with Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas never demonstrated the courage to make peace with Israel, even though he spoke about peace all the time. I have written about that and will add more at a later time. When Netanyahu came back to power in 2009 it was clear that Israel would not conduct any serious negotiations with the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s strategy since 2009 to prevent a Palestinian state was systematically implemented to delegitimize Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority and to empower Hamas to continue to govern Gaza. Netanyahu believed that as long as Hamas was in power in Gaza and the Palestinian leadership was divided between Fatah and Hamas, there would be no pressure on him from inside of Israel or from the international community to negotiate the two-states solution with the Palestinians. As Netanyahu stated in his Bar Ilan speech on June 14, 2009: We want peace, but we have no partner on the Palestinian side. There is the Palestinian Authority that supports terrorism or there is Hamas that seeks to destroy us. But we have no problem with the two states solution. This was all a lie. In fact, Netanyahu’s father, Benzion Netanyahu who was interviewed the following morning on Israeli army radio said: I know my son, he didn’t mean it (referring to Netanyahu’s appearance to accept a Palestinian state).
This is what we need to remember. The idea of the disengagement from Gaza was not what led to October 7, it was the strategy and policies implemented by Sharon and Netanyahu that leads directly to what happened on October 7. Netanyahu was Prime Minister during the failure and disaster of October 7, the greatest disaster to have ever occurred in the State of Israel since its founding. When eventually there will be a National Commission of Inquiry established to investigate October 7, it is important that the Commission’s mandate includes what happened in all of the years that led up to October 7. I am not just referring to the failure of the Israeli army to protect Israel’s border and instead to be deployed in the West Bank to protect Israeli settlers in the West Bank. I am not just referring to the false conception that Hamas was deterred. From 2008 onward, on Israeli television, sitting in panels with former Israeli generals who spoke about deterrence, I claimed that you cannot deter someone who believes that dying as a martyr is a religious commandment. Hamas was busy for years recruiting youngsters from the bereaved families of Gaza, telling them that they can get revenge for their killing of their loved ones by Israel and that they will give honor to their martyred relatives, by joining them as martyrs, killing the enemy along the way. You cannot create deterrence against that kind of force. I am referring to the failure of Israel’s leaders, mainly Netanyahu to even try to negotiate peace with the Palestinians and put an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The inquiry can begin with Netanyahu’s strategic plan to eliminate the Oslo process after Rabin's assassination. It is well known that the incitement that led to Rabin's assassination came from Netanyahu and his camp. When Netanyahu returned to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009, he did everything possible to avoid engaging with the Palestinian Authority. But I want to talk specifically about the years after that - 2012 and 2013 and my attempts to create opportunities for Netanyahu to negotiate directly with Mahmoud Abbas (at a time when Abbas still enjoyed public legitimacy amongst the Palestinian people. For years, from June 2006 until October 2011, while Gilad Schalit was in captivity in Gaza, we were told by the politicians that we can’t negotiate with the Palestinians as long as an Israeli soldier was held captive in Gaza. After the release of Gilad Schalit and the very good working relationship that I developed with David Meidan, the senior Mossad official responsible for the Schalit file, I proposed to Meidan that we promote direct secret talks between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas on the two-state solution. The idea was to build a model similar to what we did in the direct, secret talks between me and Hamas for Schalit's release. Meidan agreed. I approached Abbas and sat down with him and proposed to him the idea of negotiating with Netanyahu through a direct, secret channel. Abbas agreed immediately. Abbas said that the talks should begin from the last Olmert proposal.
I arranged a meeting between Meidan and Abbas's advisor, the President of the Palestinian Sharia High Court, Dr. Mahmoud Al Habbash. The three of us sat together at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem for a fascinating conversation between Meidan and Dr. al-Habbash (in Arabic), in which there was much agreement on a blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Following this meeting, I drafted a proposal to Netanyahu detailing the discussions with Abbas and al-Habbash. Soon afterwards, I received a completely negative answer from Netanyahu: he was not interested in negotiating with Abbas. Twice more, in 2012 and 2013, I met with Abbas and again turned to Netanyahu with a detailed report on my discussions with Abbas. The Israeli Prime Minister stood by his refusal to negotiate for peace. Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror even said to me “why should we negotiate with Abbas – he is worth nothing!”
Netanyahu frequently spoke publicly about Abbas's refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. I returned to Abbas and together with him we reached agreements on at least three formulas for Palestinian recognition of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. I arranged a meeting with Member of Knesset and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tzachi Hanegbi in the Knesset. I sat across from him in the Knesset members’ dining room while he was eating lunch, and I looked at him and told him that Abbas had formulas for recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Hanegbi burst out laughing and said, "Gershon, you surprise me! Netanyahu does not want to hear Abbas agree to recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state. He is very comfortable that there is no such agreement." That's the whole story. Netanyahu was and is is guilty of killing any chance for peace with the Palestinian people.
That’s the Whole Story in a Nutshell
In conclusion, it is very easy for the media and the politicians and the public to believe that the primary reason why October 7 happened is because of the disengagement. That is very far from the truth. October 7 should be a wake-up call for the Israeli public. There is no excuse for the crimes committed by Hamas against humanity, horrific war crimes that they did on October 7. But the Israeli public must understand that you cannot continue to occupy another people seeking freedom, liberation and dignity for more than five decades and expect to live in peace. You cannot put more than two million people in a cage of poverty and despair for two decades and expect to have quiet. October 7 happened because the leaders of Israel and Palestine failed for decades in accomplishing their most important responsibility to their own people – to ensure that they live safely in peace.
Hamas committed war crimes and crimes against humanity on October 7, and Israel has been committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza since October 7. This must end. This must be the last Israeli-Palestinian war. We must now change the triangle of failed leadership: Netanyahu-Abbas-Hamas and replace them with leaders who will take their responsibility seriously and understand that the only solution to this conflict is to enable both peoples the right to self-determination within the piece of land that they both call home.
From the River to the Sea – On Two States we must Agree! link
Two-third of Israelis feel Netanyahu government’s policy doesn’t represent their will
Sixty-seven percent of Israelis feel that the government’s policies and the decisions it makes don’t represent their will, according to a poll aired on Channel 12’s Friday evening news.
Just 29 percent of Israelis say the government’s policies and decisions represent what they want.
Even among voters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, 44% of respondents said that the government’s policy doesn’t represent their will, compared to 51% who said that it does
- IDF to begin discharging traumatized reservists amid growing mental health concerns
New policy applies to soldiers with 30% or higher state-recognized psychological disability; officials deny link to recent rise in suicidesThe Israel Defense Forces has begun reviewing the eligibility of reservists suffering from severe psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder, amid growing scrutiny over the army’s mental health system and support for traumatized soldiers.
The policy, quietly implemented late last week, applies to reservists whom the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department — responsible for reintegrating injured IDF veterans and security personnel into civilian life by providing them with social services and financial support — formally recognizes as having a 30% or greater mental health disability.
In Israel’s system, disability ratings are issued by the state to wounded soldiers, with 30% indicating a moderate but significant long-term psychiatric impairment — often including diagnosed PTSD that impacts daily functioning and employability.
Those affected will be required to meet with a military mental health officer, who will assess whether they are fit to continue serving in the reserves or should be discharged.
The decision to begin the reviews was finalized approximately three weeks ago, following a months-long internal review process in coordination with the Defense Ministry. Sources familiar with the matter have emphasized that the move is not a response to a recent spike in soldier suicides but rather part of a long-delayed effort to address gaps in data-sharing between the two bodies.
Still, the timing of the rollout has raised eyebrows, as it follows a string of highly publicized suicides this month — including the case of Daniel Edri, a reservist and veteran of the ongoing war in Gaza, who died by suicide on July 5.
In the days that followed, two more soldiers were found dead in separate incidents of suspected suicide: one on July 9 at a southern base and another on July 14 in the north. On July 15, Cpl. Dan Phillipson, a lone soldier from Norway serving in the Paratroopers Brigade, attempted to end his life at a training base in southern Israel. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Family, friends and fellow soldiers attend the funeral of Cpl. Dan Phillipson, a lone soldier from Norway, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, July 20, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
The IDF’s new review process was preempted by revelations earlier this year that hundreds of psychologically injured veterans were being called up for reserve duty without the military knowing their condition.
In a report published by Haaretz in May, officials from the IDF and the Defense Ministry admitted that the military lacked access to complete data on mental health-related disability cases, including severe PTSD. Without explicit self-reporting by soldiers, the army’s system had no record of their diagnoses.
Due to the military’s lack of records, a significant number of traumatized soldiers may have been sent back into combat zones unknowingly — some despite being classified by the state as having long-term mental disabilities. In the absence of real-time data sharing, decisions about fitness for duty were made without crucial medical context.
Military sources acknowledged to Haaretz in May that the IDF had avoided tackling the issue head-on, fearing that a broad review would open a “Pandora’s box” and result in the removal of large numbers of reservists at a time when manpower is already stretched thin.
Mental health professionals have raised alarms over the dangers of deploying traumatized soldiers into active combat.
In the same report, Prof. Eyal Fruchter, former head of the IDF’s Mental Health Department and chair of the National Council for PTSD, told Haaretz that for those already struggling with PTSD, further exposure to traumatic events dramatically increases the risk of developing chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It’s a particularly bad idea to take people who are already at high risk and send them back into battle,” Fruchter said. “But it seems that because of the terrible personnel shortage, the system prefers to ignore the risk, which is a cause for grave concern.”
According to official IDF figures, seven active-duty soldiers died by suicide between October 7, 2023, and the end of that year. In 2024, 21 additional soldiers took their own lives. While the military has yet to release official numbers for 2025, Haaretz reported that at least 17 more active-duty suicides have occurred so far this year. These figures do not include soldiers who died by suicide while off duty.
The newly introduced policy will require reservists currently under emergency call-up orders to undergo a mental health assessment within three days of being notified. Those not under active orders will be evaluated by a designated professional as part of the review process. Soldiers will have the right to appeal any decisions, which will then undergo further examination before a final ruling is issued.
As of now, no final discharges have officially been made under the new guidelines. However, one unnamed reservist told Ynet he was abruptly informed by phone that his service was terminated while en route to Gaza in what the IDF called an “isolated case.”Israeli soldiers walk near Sderot’s police station that was overrun by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 onslaught, on October 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
He described the call as lacking “explanation or preparation” and having “zero sensitivity,” saying, “They forget that on October 7, we jumped out of bed straight into the battlefield… As far as they’re concerned, we’ve done our part, and now they can just throw us away.”
Since the war began, the man has served over 400 days in reserve duty and acknowledged that release might be necessary due to his deteriorating mental state. But he criticized how the situation was handled.
“In hindsight, I realize I had reached a point where I had to be released,” he said. “I would never have raised a red flag myself, saying I couldn’t show up. As painful as it is, this is what’s right for me. But this isn’t the way to do it. We gave and did so much. Someone else could have taken that phone call much harder.” LINK Poll: Majority of Israelis fear they won’t be able to travel abroad due to global criticism of Jewish state
Fifty-six percent of Israelis fear they won’t be able to travel abroad due to mounting global criticism of the Jewish state, as the war in Gaza drags on, a poll aired on Channel 12 indicates.
Forty percent of Israelis, on the other hand, don’t have such fears, according to the poll.
- The Region and the World
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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